The other day while on my way to the local grocery store I noticed a group of kids in their lates teens or early 20s all wearing identical red T shirts at the gas station across the street. They were out campaigning for someone- I don’t remember who. It made me thing of someone I haven’t thought about in years.
His name is Collin. I met him in 2007 at a campaign event for then Presidential candidate John Edwards. Collin had taken a year off from college to work on the campaign – in part because he believed in Edwards, and in part because he thought it would good on his resume in the future. He wasn’t paid much at all- Pat and I bought him quite a few cheese and tomato pizzas when he was in town. Of course, after the Iowa Caucus he was off to New Hampshire and points beyond.
Fast forward a couple months and John Edwards was suspending his campaign because it had come out that he had fathered a child with his videographer. Never a great look, but his wife was suffering from terminal cancer at the time, which made it even uglier.
It’s no secret that there are a multitude of ways that politicians can ruin your life. It seems the current White House resident is bound and determined to ruin the lives of 99% of the American people, but that is a discussion for another day.
I didn’t keep in touch with Collin so I can’t say that his life was ruined by the actions of a selfish man who thought he was too smart to get caught. But he DID give up a year of his life. He was hundreds of miles from home, living in cheap hotels with people he just met, and barely paid enough to feed himself. And for what? I doubt his work on the campaign is going to be a bright spot on his resume as he had hoped.
Maybe I’m wrong and Collin has nothing but positive memories of the experience. But of all the kids working for Edwards, I’m sure at least one of them regrets it.
Those kids I saw at the gas station were gone by the time I was done grocery shopping. I hope they get everything they want from their campaigning experience. I doubt Collin did.